Time Travel question for any science fiction property

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Hope this is not a Too Much Information, type of question....

I was watching the STTOS episode "All Our Yesterdays" on METV. That is the episode where a planet is about to go nova and they have a library to send people back in time and the caretaker thinks Kirk, Spock and McCoy need to go back. Anyway, here is my question. In that episode, Spock and McCoy are not processed for living in that time period, so they must get back and do so successfully. Back in time Spock eats some animal meat. When they go back forward in time, what happens to the food in his stomach? Is it protected cause it is in his gut or does it all of a sudden become 5,000 years old and damaging to his system?

I know it is a TV show, so that would be the least of the plot points/holes in this, but I was wondering. In any property or novel about time travel, does anyone ever deal with that issue or for example could the Doctor step out of the TARDIS, use the bathroom and possibly release pathogens that an ancient society can't deal with? I know the butterfly effect - from Ray Bradbury's "Sound of Thunder" novella touches on this concept, but has anyone in mainstream Sci Fi ever come up with anything like this or a reason why anyone can beam down to a planet and eat anything in sight? In Star Trek, the Transporters are supposed to have bio-filters to decontaminate. Does the entrance to the TARDIS have this?

WHat is everyone's thoughts or suggestions for any good stories or movies to see? Thanks.

[Mikey]

I've always hated the All Our Yesterdays science

When Spock goes back in time he should not revert to acting like his emotional ancestors

That's just silly

[ctc]

>In any property or novel about time travel, does anyone ever deal with that issue or for example could the Doctor step out of the TARDIS, use the bathroom and possibly release pathogens that an ancient society can't deal with?

The first case I remember was "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." This was the reason they couldn't blow it up. "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" sort of deals with it too. (ALWAYS clean your phone!)

It's an interesting question. Like any sci-fi the key to a good story isn't "accuracy;" since for a lot of stuff.... like time travel.... we really don't know; but instead maintaining internal consistency. So you can have anything happen, but it shoudl ALWAYS happen in those circumstances. To that end, there are any number of solutions to any problem.

>or a reason why anyone can beam down to a planet and eat anything in sight

This ties into the alien problem. Realisticly; would aliens be like us, or completely different? Truthfully, we can't say. You could argue that aerobic, carbon based life is an anomally in the universe, and aliens would be nothing like us; or you could say that the combination of elements, molecules, base protiens, etc that evolved on Earth follow a set pattern which is constant throughout the universe. So fruit would be similar on most inhabited planets. Different, but similar enough you could find something to eat.

>When Spock goes back in time he should not revert to acting like his emotional ancestors

....unless the library's time travel doesn't work by relocating a person in time; plucking them from one time and inserting them into another, but rather forces them through the time stream. This means that EVENTUALLY they'll revert to a form chronologically consistent for the time they're in; as then higher amounts of chronological energy they've absorbed from being farther along the time stream are reabsorbed back into general time. Chronal diffusion stabilizes them at a point consistent for their current setting. When they come back, diffusion pulls more chronological energy into them; returning them to the "current" standard, and ensuring Spock doesn't die from a gut full of rancid meat. (It'll evolve into it's current equivalent.)

At least that's how it works in the TMNT RPG.

Don C.

[Mikey]

I forgot I had it on my DVR and just watched it

Man I forgot how great Mariette Hartley looked in those skins

[rchatlin]

I watched it too,
but what got me was the timeline.

5000 seems much too short a span from Ice Age to current times with the technology to create the time travel machine.

And how did they get all the recordings of the past?


As for the food question,
it's addressed in a short story called The Old Die Rich,
which may be public domain now.

It's also available as an adapted radio show by X Minus One, which can probably be found online.


r
o
b

[fallensaviour]

how did they get all the recordings of the past?
r
o
b

By going back in time of course....

[Mikey]

Question .......

Given a choice you can go back in time anywhere you want to live out your life, is there ANYONE here that would would go back to witchburning times ?

What the hell was that magistrate thinking ?

[ctc]

>What the hell was that magistrate thinking ?

Weird thing; for a historian the most horrific times would be among the most interesting and informative ones to go to. Like seeing a dinosaur up close.

'Course, in the animated Trek you can go to the future and see the old witchburning times.

Don C.

[ddgaff1132]

Does the meat in Spock's stomach become rancid and old when he returns to the present. Well did his clothing De-evolve (So to speak) into it's base components when he went back?
The other thing I kinda remember from the Star Trek mentality is that Vulcun's shared a sub-conscious mental link. I forget the exact episode but an ship with an entire Vulcun crew was destroyed and Spock noted "Sensing details of their demise. If this follows suit. In a primitive time Spock would mentally "sync" with the Vulcun's of that period and be effected by their current state of mind.
As for the Tardis. If it can physically alter a person so they can understand any alien language. Then a little germ cleansing would be a snap.

Just to really mess with everyone's heads. I'll throw this out there... No matter how old you become. Your body will never be more than 7 years old.

[danadoll]

The TARDIS doesn't "physically alter a person", it telepathically translates languages.

Dana